Proclamation 4352—Red Cross Month, 1975

Since the first settlement on these shores, we Americans have worked together voluntarily to conquer problems and to care for one another in time of adversity. This neighbor-helping-neighbor approach is still with us today and is exemplified by an organization that has become known as the Good Neighbor-the American National Red Cross.

We can all be grateful that the Red Cross is here in time of need. When disasters occur, this Good Neighbor responds with quick and openhanded assistance to help the injured and homeless. When the need is blood, the Red Cross provides this precious fluid from volunteer donors to more than half of this nation's medical facilities. This Good Neighbor, through its first aid and water safety training programs, arms us with the knowledge and skill to save our own and the lives of others. Veterans and members of the military services, often separated far from their loved ones, also turn to the Red Cross for help in time of personal crisis.

The American Red Cross, governed both nationally and in our communities by boards made up of volunteers, is dependent upon each one of us for its existence. It is financed primarily by voluntary contributions and its services are made available largely through the work of volunteers.

Traditionally, March is Red Cross Month. During that month, more than half of the 3,100 Red Cross chapters will be asking Americans to be Good Neighbors by making contributions. In communities where the Red Cross is in partnership with United Way, these chapters will be asking us to lend our time and skills as volunteers in one of their many service programs.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, and Honorary Chairman of the American National Red Cross, do hereby designate March, 1975, as Red Cross Month.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred ninety-ninth.

GERALD R. FORD